Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Gloriana “Glory” June Hemphill, second daughter of Brother
Joe, is about to turn 12-years-old. This year her birthday party will be at the
Hanging Moss Community Pool. Her friends will be thrilled to escape the
oppressive Mississippi heat in cool blue water while waiting for the July 4th
parade and fireworks. Glory was born on Independence Day.

Plans have been in the works for months. Emma, the
housekeeper and surrogate mother to the Hemphill daughters, is baking Glory a fine
cake. Frankie, Glory’s best friend, cannot wait to drench everyone with his new
and much improved cannonball. Older sister, Jesslyn, is bringing her pep squad
friends, but she promises they will snag a corner umbrella and talk about boys
and Elvis completely ignoring others.

Well, that was yesterday and Frankie has just rained on the
party plans. During breakfast, (Emma claims the sound of bacon hitting the Hemphill
grill in the morning is Frankie’s alarm clock) Frankie states that the pool is
closing. His dad, a town supervisor, says cracks have to be mended before it
will reopen.

Glory cannot believe the news. They were just swimming
yesterday. She did not notice any cracks. Maybe, there were some rusty bobby
pins and bubblegum stuck to the bottom, but she did not remember seeing any cracks.
Why close it in the middle of summer anyway? Why not wait and fix it in the
fall? For that matter, why fix it at all since the hole in the fence has been
there for years?

Glory heads off to the library to ask librarian, Miss Bloom,
if this is true. She knows everything that goes on in the town. She is bound to
know if there are any cracks.

There are no cracks. The pool is about to be desegregated in
1964 Hanging Moss, Mississippi. This is the premise for Augusta Scattergood’s
new book, Glory Be. Written first as a tale about the relationship between
sisters, but then evolved into historical fiction.

Scattergood, born Mary Augusta Russell, said the story is
based on some truths of her youth. Instead of the pool closing, it was the
Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, MS. The year was 1967 instead of 1964, and
she was an intern at the library when Freedom Summer came to the South. The
stuff about Junk Poker is all true, though.